# Member Lounge > Miscellaneous >  How much do you feel the passing of the seasons ?

## Maciamo

Japanese people are famous for being very aware of the passing of the seasons. They organise special social events for blossom viewings in Spring and autumn leaves viewing, in particular. People around the world have different ways of celebrating the seasons. In Britain for instance, many people (e.g. Neopagans) go to ancient sites like Stonehenge at the summer or winter solstices for the sun rise or sun set on the longest and shortest day of the year. In the West, Christmas is a way of celebrating winter, with the typical winter decorations (including fake snow if necessary). In the Netherlands, people go and watch the tulips and other flowers (jonquils, petunias...) in Spring in specially designed gardens like in Keukenhof.


Personally, when I was in primary/elementary school, we had weekly pupil magazines, and they had different designs and activities in accordance with every season (it was more accurate than just the '4 seasons', as every month had something special). Contrarily to Japan, one of the most obvious change of seasons apart from the flowers, was the daily length of sunlight. In the Benelux, in winter the sun rises around 8:30am and sets as early as 4pm. So people go to school/work when it's still dark and go back home when it's already dark. So winter is clearly associated with darkness, cold, artificial lights (e.g. Xmas decorations), wood fire in the fire place, warm clothes, etc. In summer, sun rises around 5am and sets around 10:30pm. So (early) summer is associated with light. Coming from the countryside, it is also associated with the croaking of the frogs, the singing of the birds till late at night, or scent of various flowers and plants (which all completely disappear in winter). There are of course many blossoing flowers in spring and almost all trees have red and yellow leaves in autumn, but there aren't any particular tree (cherry, momiji) which are planted in lines of groves expressedly for blossom or leaves viewing like in Japan.

In Tokyo, there is hardly any of these differences between summer and winter. Flowers still bloom in winter, and the sun sets around 7pm at latest in summer (6pm in late summer, against 5pm in winter). Tokyo being a city, we also can't smell or hear so much difference in the nature (apart from the cicadas from late Spring to early Autumn). So, I feel that Northern Europe is better to feel the particularities of winter and summer, while Japan is better for spring and autumn.

How do you celebrate/admire the seasons, how much do you care about it, and how important was it when you were a child ?

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## Kinsao

I like the English seasons... uhh... even though I often joke that I didn't get a summer.  :Sad:  It's true what you say about the length of days and the amount of sunlight. I nearly always vacation in the far north of England, just when the days are longest, and even by travelling that distance I can detect a difference in the length of the days. I like the long summer days! In the north, the sun doesn't go down until about 10 pm and at 10.30 there is still perceptible light. This summer I was driving back from a friend's house at midnight, in the middle of the quiet countryside, with no city lights to cause "light pollution", and I could still see the light from the sun spilling up from just below the horizon.  :Smiling: 

On the down side, winter is pretty dark. If it's raining it seems like evening at 3.30 pm.  :Sad:  But it does make for that nice cosy feeling...  :Smiling:  

I like the autumn a lot, too; especially days when it's all crisp and frosty and sunny at the same time, with lots of bright orange and red trees. I'm lucky - I walk through the park every day, so I get the chance to see the trees, and plenty of squirrels too! 

In fact, I like all the seasons.  :Smiling:  The summer isn't very spectacular here, of course, but we get at least a few Mediterranean days to enjoy each summer! This year, I could swim in the North Sea and it was waaaaaaaarm! Mmmmmm! 

I don't know that people "celebrate" the different seasons as such here  :Clueless:  We don't have anything such as cherry-blossom viewing... Although there is the "conker season", hehe! And blackberrying is something many people do in the late summer, mainly if you live in the country - of course, fruit picking is a seasonal thing and it's becoming more and more popular for people to make their own wine and jam.

Some people celebrate the solstices, and although I'm not neo-Pagan or Druid, I sometimes feel sorry these kind of disappeared from "mainstream" and I wish people would pay a little more attention to them. But of course, there is Christmas, the main festival of winter, and Easter, the festival of spring (gone into mainstream regardless of "religion"). 

At primary schools I think it's quite common to have sort of themed displays showing the current season, decorated e.g. with leaves etc. for autumn. Also, one primary school exercise is often to keep a "weather chart" - I don't know that it's related to the seasons, though.

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## Ma Cherie

Let's see, when I was much younger in elementary school we would have what is called a "Blizzard pary" to represent the arrival of winter. We'd have hot chocolate and marshmellows.  :Poh:  That was always nice. When spring came along we celebrate it by writing poems about the blossoming flowers and the leaves on the trees. But that I'm older, it doesn't seem like people care anymore about the changing seasons.  :Doubt:  It's like "Oh it's fall now" or "It must be summer." God, I miss being a kid sometimes.  :Sad:  

It's sad because my favorite seasons are the fall and spring, because to me it's like a balance. It's not too cold or too hot.  :Poh:  Daylight savings time is good way for me to feel the changing seasons.

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## Maciamo

When I was a child, I used to pick up and eat cherries and berries or play in the 2m-high maise/corn or 1m-high wheat fields in summer, then wait for September to pick up the apples, plums and chestnuts. 

In winter, I would play on the frozen pond near my house and test the resistance of the ice (it was just 1m deep, so even if it broke there was little danger). Or I would watch the ice stalactites getting longer day after day along the roof's gutter. With some friends, we would try to trace back the foot prints of a rabbit or fox in the snow... 

In Tokyo it never freezes and snows like 2 days a year, so there is no real winter. That's why it feels weird when Tokyoites who have never lived in the countryside tell me proudly about how distinct the seasons are in Japan. My wife had never seen stalactites, never picked up fruits from a tree or experienced late evening light, for instance.

At school, we also learned the connection between the name of the months and the seasons. For example, "April" comes from Latin "aprire" which means "to open" or "to blossom". This is clearer with the short-lived French Republican Calendar, in which all months were named after seasonal activities. For instance, Germinal (from Latin germen, "seed") started around 21 March as it was the season of sowing. Or Vend&eacute;miaire (from Latin vindemia, "vintage") started around 23 September, the vintage season. We are also taught that spring "officially" starts at the spring equinox (21 March), summer at the summer solstice (21 June), etc. They even announce it at the radio and TV in Belgium. 

However, when I ask 'when' a season supposedly starts or ends in Japan, the Japanese have no idea and have never really wondered about it. I get approximates that vary greatly from one person to another. Again, aren't Japanese people notorious for the importance they attach to the (their) seasons ? It doesn't seem so from my education and experience. Maybe do they see it from a Thai or Hawaiian point of view ?

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## MeAndroo

Oh, seasons...yeah I've heard of those. I hear that in some places, leaves change color and even fall off of trees. I also heard that sometimes water solidifies and people throw large chunks of it at each other for fun, or use it to construct crude replicas of overweight bipeds. The only shot I had at engaging in such an activity was a snow day in Tokyo, which was quickly ruined by the snow taking on a rather nasty brownish-blackish tint by midday. 

Here in southern California, we don't get "seasons." Weather has a mind of its own, as evidenced by the rain during typical summer months, and days in October of triple digit heat. Half of me envies many other parts of the world, and half of me is happy I don't have to buy winter clothes.

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## Mike Cash

I have heard that many Japanese consider the first time in the year they hear the  (bird)@sing to mark the beginning of spring.

I have no idea what an  sounds like, so I just consider the first WAAAAAAAN WAAAAAN WAAAAAAAAN WAAAAAAAN WUP Waaaan of the bosozoku as the signal of the arrival of spring.

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## Duo

There is only one season in brussels, rain, so there is on solemn passing of seasons here anyways ;)

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## Tsuyoiko

The seasons mean a lot to me. As Maciamo says, they are very apparent in Northern Europe. I like to look for signs of the seasons, like sometimes if I am watching TV I will try to work out what time of year it was filmed - if there are cherry blossoms it's April, or leaves on the ground it's October. 

For me, Christmas is about the winter solstice. The fairy lights and candles are our way of bringing light into a dark world. Getting drunk is part of it to, because we need some fun to take our minds off the depressing weather. We exchange presents because we need each other at that time of year, and it's nice to show our appreciation. 

I also love spring. It is wonderful to see the first shoots breaking through the ground, and the buds coming on the trees. In April it cheers me up to see the tulips in the garden as I leave for another boring day at work, and to drive past the cherry trees with their gorgeous blossom - it is hard to think of anything more beautiful than a cherry tree in full bloom.

The seasons help me to be in tune with Nature, as I can see that she is alive. Also, when things look bad in winter, you know that they are going to get better when spring comes around. There is a lesson there for life as well. My true name poem that I wrote is based on the seasons. Anyone want to hear it?

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## RockLee

> I have heard that many Japanese consider the first time in the year they hear the  (bird)@sing to mark the beginning of spring.
> 
> I have no idea what an  sounds like, so I just consider the first WAAAAAAAN WAAAAAN WAAAAAAAAN WAAAAAAAN WUP Waaaan of the bosozoku as the signal of the arrival of spring.


Hahahaha, oh Mike...you have a way of making something sound amuzing  :Laughing:  But yeah, I guess you are right  :Relieved: 


As for me, summer in Belgium is rather relative, you can count the days it's really hot on your 2 hands!In summer the days are long and in the morning it's bright early, when autumn comes it's dark until 8am or later and it's dark early at night.Winter isn't that much as there is hardly to no snow  :Sou ka:  spring...well , let's say I can't make a difference between spring and summer  :Okashii:

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## DoctorP

I've noticed here in Okinawa that there really is no transition period...all of a sudden the temp drops and...Hello...it's winter! At least back home everything happened gradually...trees turning color, different smells, it's wonderful!

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## Tokis-Phoenix

I was brought up on a traditional farm in england, so the seasons were very important to my family. The things i enjoyed most about the seasons as a kid growing up on the farm in my small villiage community were;
a. Spring time, i loved seeing all the snow drops, blue bells, daffodils and tulips growing as a kid, they were the first color to grow in my mums large garden and it realy cheered the place up in the receeding winter snows  :Raining:   :Rose:  .
Then there was eater time, as a young kid my local church used to hold an easter egg hunt in the graveyard and all the kids in the villiage used to go up there and search for the chocolate eggs hidden amoung the tombstones and trees. In sunday school we made all sorts of things to celebrate easter from decorating eggs and doing pictures to making costumes, which i realy liked as a kid. There were also the lambs if i remember correctly, which were very cute and my dad used to put me in the lamb pens when i was little to play with the lambs while he worked.
If i remember correctly, the deer herds would also begin to get quite frisky at this time of year, although you could see the males fighting with each other locking antlers at almost anytime of year.

Eaater celebrations actually derives from the ancient neolithic religeons of england. Farming was especially important back then as pretty much everybodys lives revolved around sowing the crops, putting the animals out to feilds, rearing the baby animals and making products out of milk and meat and furs, tending the crops and bringing in the harvest and shearing the sheep and treating animal skins for wear and weaving and making cloths out of wool and the such like etc. Bringing in the harvest and collecting all the summer and autum fruits and nuts, spring cleaning your house and repairing it after winter and tending to the fields tidying up all the weeds and also making new feilds and making foods according to what could be grown at that particular session were also important factors etc.
So many religeons back then evolved far more around the sessions and farming and the weather more than anything else back then. The reasons why we have such things as the easter bunny and eggs and chickens and things is partly because people were far more aware of the sessons back then as they played a huge part in life.

The hare was the first animal to breed in spring, much earlier then any other animal, so it became a symbol of the new year and when to start sowing the first crops. The same goes for eggs, as the they were considered a symbol of new fertility and life, a new beginning, so in turn they too also became a part of the easter celebrations. 
The easter egg hunt part of it actually derives from the change of hunter gathering to farming, which is what many people had to do in the winter in the neolithic times due to there not being many crops that could be grown in winter and not enough to support a family well, so everyone celebrated the fact that they could go back to farming again.
So...if you wonder why we have all this chocolate egg buisness and bunny rabbit celebrations, you now know why the whole thing came about  :Cool:  .

b. I loved summer time as a kid, not only because of the school holidays, but also because of all the fruits my mum used to grow in her gardens. Strawberrys, apples, red currents, plums and tomatoes were realy nice to eat just laying back in the grass staring at the blue sky. 
We also used to get alot of bamtam chicks(bamtams are basically a type of dwarf chicken, very small and much older type of chicken than the types we use today in farming) at this time of year which were very cute and i used to spend alot of my time caring for them and their mothers, i realy looked forward to the chicks hatching every year and i used to spend alot of my time helping deliver chicks as a kid  :50:   :49:  . 
The deer herds would also be delivering their first fawns at this time of year and would come down from the woodlands to graze in saftey in the paddocks and feilds.

c. Autum was one of my favorite times of year and is my most fav now, but one of the reasons why i liked it so much as a kid was because of all the black berrys/currents and rasborys, i used to take the dogs for longs walks with m brother and collect all the blackberrys and rasborys in the hedges with my brother and take them home so my mum could make them into jam.
During this time the farm was at its most busy- harvesting time. Throughout the entire day all you'd hear were the combine harvestors, tractors and lorrys come in and out of the farm and feilds delivering the wheat and other crops like rapeseed to be prepared and processed and sorted out into catagorys- human comsumption, animal consumption and for the rapeseed, turned primarily into oil for machines but also somtimes made into animal cereals.

I loved autum also because of all the nut and fruit producing trees- we would often go walnut, chesnut and cherry  :79:  , plum and apple picking(mainly crab and cooking apples though, taste nasty eaten raw  :78:  ) and also everybody would be playing conkers at school. The woodlands on the farm were beautiful during this time, a picture of golds, yellows, shades of browns and lime greens. 

We also help the pheasant hunt at this time of year which was a realy big thing when my dad was alive, we would have a big party back at the main house almost every week with lots of drinking, storys and roasted foods and rich deserts. I loved the pheasant hunt as a kid because i love eating pheasant itself, so there would be alot of that about after the pheasant hunt, and also because of all the partys and food. The dogs enjoyed it too because they were trained to retrieve the pheasants back after they had shot and also happened to get rather fat from eating the odd pheasant or 2 every now and then.
My parents would also hold a big traditional get-together lunch for all the farm workers in a sort of thanks for their hard work and everyone would give presents to each other. 
We also spent many nights as a kid roasting sweet chesnuts over an open fire which tasted realy nice and we would eat lots of almounds and things. 
There was also halloween  :Halloween:  !

d. Winter, for me as a kid, was an awesome time of year, as the valley in which the farm is situated snowed almost everytime each year. My brother and i loved playing in the snow building snowmen and playing snowball fights with each other  :Shiver:  . All the cows would be brought in at this time of year too much closer to the farm which was nice as they were very friendly and would let you stroke them if you got to get to know them by feeding them handfuls of grass. 
Me and my brother would also go up to the hills and go sledging on the snow which was cool. And of course, there was christmas which all the christmas pudding, chocolates, roast lunch, christmas tree and presents  :111:  .

Theres more, but thats pretty much the seasons for me as a kid, now i am an adult and do not live on the farm anymore, i still love the seasons but they don't effect me half as much in my life anymore.

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## RockLee

One thing I REALLY hate is the sun in autumn, it's standing so damn low I can't see sh*t on the road, on top of that, when your windows are a tad dirty it's ZERO vision  :Okashii:

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## Duo

it's weird because it's a bit chill in the morning but then at 11 it gets to like 20 degrees

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## xerxes99

When I went to college up in Missouri I really felt the seasons, especially spring, seeing everyone shed their winter coats. But now that I'm back in Florida the only difference is that it rains less in the winter than the summer.

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## Mike Cash

> One thing I REALLY hate is the sun in autumn, it's standing so damn low I can't see sh*t on the road, on top of that, when your windows are a tad dirty it's ZERO vision


http://tinyurl.com/exdfk

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## nurizeko

Its hard to tell seasons where i live now....in the middle of october when i first came to live in my current city there was the deepest snow ive ever seen on the ground, this year, it only recently started getting cooler and a bit wetter.

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## RockLee

> http://tinyurl.com/exdfk


haha, smartass  :Laughing:

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## Duo

funny, i was thinking the exact thing, and that goes for both replies ;)

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## Maciamo

> I have heard that many Japanese consider the first time in the year they hear the  (bird)@sing to mark the beginning of spring.


French speakers usually consider the first time they see swallows *a migratory bird as well) as the beginning of spring. Interestingly, the French proverb has it that "One swallows does not make spring", while the English one is "One swallow does not make a summer". That's probably because England is north of France and it takes the bird a bit longer to reach it in their migration. I wonder if such differences in sayings exist between Southern and Northern Japan.

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## Maciamo

> Winter isn't that much as there is hardly to no snow


It depends where. In the Ardennes it (much) snows more than in Flanders, although it's just 100 km away.

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## Doc

There are seasons? I never heard of those! Oh wait a minute yes I have, it's just that my balls can't take it where I live. First you have Spring, it's warm, then it's cold. It's warm, and then it's cold. It's warm, and then it's cold all the while the trees and flowers are still budding. Then there's summer, where it's hot, and then it gets hotter. Humidity sucks ***. Then it's fall where it gets warm and then cold. Warm and then cold, all the while everything is dying. Then it's winter where it can be cold, or colder depending on the summers. I HATE LIVING IN THE MIDWEST!!!  :Uzi: 

Doc  :Okashii:

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## Duo

I'd say that Brussels got its fair amount of snow last winter... at one point in just 5 minutes the sky became literally white with huge flakes and city got all covered up.. 20 min later it was all finished

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## misa.j

Northen New York where I live has more distictive changes of the seasons than where I grew up in Japan. 
I usually notice from the smell of firewood and leaves on the ground when the fall comes.
Winter here starts so brutally and stays cold for so long.

I just have bad memories of being smacked by the wicked wind of February while I was playing outside in the yard when I was a child.

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## Ma Cherie

> There are seasons? I never heard of those! Oh wait a minute yes I have, it's just that my balls can't take it where I live. First you have Spring, it's warm, then it's cold. It's warm, and then it's cold. It's warm, and then it's cold all the while the trees and flowers are still budding. Then there's summer, where it's hot, and then it gets hotter. Humidity sucks ***. Then it's fall where it gets warm and then cold. Warm and then cold, all the while everything is dying. Then it's winter where it can be cold, or colder depending on the summers. I HATE LIVING IN THE MIDWEST!!! 
> 
> Doc


You're telling me, I don't understand the weather in the Midwest. I swear, just several days ago it still felt like summer.  :Mad:  I remember some years ago when it snowed it in October.  :Mad:  And there isn't supposed to be any snow in October. It's really strange, it's like the cycle is all out of whack.  :Doubt:

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## pinkkillerkisou

Seasons sound like so much fun...  :Sad:   :Laughing: 

I live in New Orleans. It is always summer. Except for the very end of December (if your lucky) and January and February are pretty cold.  :Doubt:  But cold to us is not the same cold as you are all used to I'm sure.  :Relieved: 

I need to get out more and see these so called seasons.  :Laughing: 

Oh... and as far as "feeling" the seasons. I have arthritis and a sickness thats makes me have equilibrium issues. Even the slightest weather change affects me. I feel it. It doesn't feel good folks.  :Sick:  (I feel like I'm so old  :Laugh out loud: )

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## lastmagi

Oh dear, I didn't know you were in the New Orleans, pinkkillerkisou  :Sad:  This is woefully late, but I hope things are doing okay for you guys.

Anyway, I know the seasons as basically:

Miserable allergy season (mid-late spring)
Hot, humid and physically trying season, with some specks of allergies (late spring to early autumn)
Miserable allergy season, the revenge (early autumn)
Beautiful, no allergy weather season (early to mid autumn)
Dreary cold season (but completely free from allergies!)

Needless to say, I hate allergies.

Anyway, other than that, I don't really feel the seasons as much as I'd like. The springs and autumns are dominated by school, which takes up a lot of my time, so I can't really enjoy the outdoors, unless you count the hurried walking through campus to get to class as enjoying the outdoors. The summers I waste my time indoors playing video games, because I lack the energy for much else. Winters are nice, because I get to cuddle up in a warm blanket.

Arg, I need to spend more time outdoors, huh.

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## Maciamo

I noticed that many many people (in any country) think that Japan, Europe and the USA are basically at the same latitude. If this is true for Japan and the USA, the inhabited parts of Europe ranges from the Northern USA/Japan to Northern Canada. For example, the Northern Japanese city of Sendai is at the same latitude as Washington DC, but they are also at the same latitude as Malta or Gibraltar in Europe, and more south than Tunis or Algiers in North Africa. So, all major Japanese cities and the Southern half of the USA are at the latitude of North Africa. 

Sapporo, Boston, Marseille and Florence are also at the same latitude, which clearly shows that the South of Europe is the top North of Japan or the US. London is higher than any Canadian city except Edmonton which is at the height of Manchester or Hamburg in Germany. Helsinki and Oslo are at the latitude of Alaska or the southern tip of Greenland.

See the attached map for more visual comparisons.

In tropical or semi-tropical places like the Southern US, Southern Japan and North Africa, the seasons are less well defined than north of that. The difference in day light is most marked the nearer one is from the poles.

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## Mike Cash

> funny, i was thinking the exact thing, and that goes for both replies ;)


Why so for the first reply? I was in total earnest.

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## pinkkillerkisou

> Oh dear, I didn't know you were in the New Orleans, pinkkillerkisou  This is woefully late, but I hope things are doing okay for you guys.


Thanks for your well-wishes.  :Blush: 

Well, slowly but surely the city is getting back on her feet. Help is so slow, but I know there is much to be done so I expected as much. As for me... I lucked out. My home suffered minor damages and slight flooding. Nothing to serious. I'm alive and have a house still so I'd say I am very fortunate.  :Smiling:

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## Doc

> Thanks for your well-wishes. 
> 
> Well, slowly but surely the city is getting back on her feet. Help is so slow, but I know there is much to be done so I expected as much. As for me... I lucked out. My home suffered minor damages and slight flooding. Nothing to serious. I'm alive and have a house still so I'd say I am very fortunate.


You are very lucky.  :Smiling:  Just remember help is slow because FEMA is dumb. Oh and I'm still pissed off that Bush wants to spend over 200 billion dollars to rebuild casinos in the area.  :Okashii:  So if you didn't lose your home during Katrina, now you have the chance to.  :Okashii: 

Doc  :Okashii: 

P.S. I'm also pissed off at FEMA, the oil companies for screwing the American people (although it's about time we got slapped in the face for alternative fuel sources), and every conservative in Congress trying to make the wealthy wealther in this time of need. Selfish sons of bitches.  :Okashii:

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## Mike Cash

> funny, i was thinking the exact thing, and that goes for both replies ;)


I'll ask you again. Why do you think my first reply was a smartassed reply?

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## DoctorP

> You are very lucky.  Just remember help is slow because FEMA is dumb. Oh and I'm still pissed off that Bush wants to spend over 200 billion dollars to rebuild casinos in the area.  So if you didn't lose your home during Katrina, now you have the chance to. 
> 
> Doc 
> 
> P.S. I'm also pissed off at FEMA, the oil companies for screwing the American people (although it's about time we got slapped in the face for alternative fuel sources), and every conservative in Congress trying to make the wealthy wealther in this time of need. Selfish sons of bitches.



Just wondering Doc...why are you against rebuilding the casino's? They are a major supplier of jobs, and instant source of large amounts of income to the gulf coast in the form of taxes...to the tune of $500,000 per day in some areas!

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## Mike Cash

Never try to disabuse a liberal of his source of rage.

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## Doc

1.) I was joking. There's been a lot of pissing a moaning about the issue for a week now. If anything people should be bitching about the 15 billion dollars that is going to the oil companies in Texas for their refineries than anything.

2.) Let's get one thing straight Mike, I AM NOT A LIBERAL. I'm an independent. I have both liberal and conservative beliefs so don't confuse me with some tree hugging, loose sex loving, violent video game banning, pot legalizing, gun banning, religion hating *******. 

The casinos I understand, but why the hell the strip clubs? Most people lost their homes, why would the first they want to do is see a naked woman?! Great now I can lose more money!!!  :Okashii:  *sigh* FEMA hasn't helped much either, but it's not really their fault, just the fault of a certain former director and a large group of idiots we'd like to call "The White House Administration".  :Wink: 

Doc  :Wavey:

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## pinkkillerkisou

Are we forgeting that even though casinos provide jobs, but they also take money away from the community? It's usually the people who can't afford to lose the money that go there. No one at this point needs to go to casinos. They shouldn't ever, but especially not now. The government needs to stop looking to quick fixes. They need to worry about more important issues. For instance, better ways to protect the city. Casinos and strip clubs don't stop hurricanes. Drainage canals, water pumps, and levees stop flooding.  :Poh: 

As for your comment about the strip clubs... you'd be surprised how many people rushed to bars in the Quarter as soon as they opened. All the drunks they interviewed on tv about the city getting "back up and running"...  :Sick: 

It's sad but people will spend their last dollar on an addiction than to feed their families.  :Sick:  I think its a bad idea to open these kinds of places just yet or spend so much money on them. 

You know where all this the money they want to throw at the problem needs to go? To our hospitals, schools, day cares, retirement facilities, etc.. So many of those places were devastated. Those kinds of things need to be fixed first. Not casinos.  :Okashii:

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## Maciamo

You can see here my pictures of Keukenhof in the Netherlands. As promised, I haven't missed spring at home !

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## Minty

The four seasons! 
When I was little I lived in Malaysia, a country with no four seasons, but only summer and a rainy season. I used to admire people who get to live in countries with four seasons, because I thought it would be fun to wear different fashions in different seasons and be able to see and to play with snow. :Victory:  

Then just before I reached teenage stage of my life my parents decided to immigrate to Australia. I was very excited not only we get to live in a country with better standards I would be able to see snow and undergo the different seasons like what I read on the story books. :Rose:  

But when I got there I learnt that in Australia there was no snow, except in the mountains in Melbourne. I was disappointed.  :Bawling:  


Nevertheless, the reversed seasons in Australia that are different from the seasons I am taught from books have given me quite an antithetical experience. Like Xmas in the summer, for example, some Australians would dress in swimsuits with Santafs hat on to celebrate Xmas. I have discovered this to be quite mirthful. :Poh:  

Then few years later, I travelled to America where there were snows in the winter. It was gelid and I didnft enjoy myself in the show like I thought I would. My clothes were also not warm enough for their winter. It was my first time after all. :Shiver:  

Couple more years went by and I got married. I never dreamt I would marry a Frenchman.  :Romance:  

Itfs all very out of the blue. Here, in Strasbourg where I dwell, is very nippy most of the time. :Raining:  The only time that is tepid and hot is the summer. Sometimes in the summer it can be sweltry.  :Atsui:  

With the right apparels on,  :Cool:  the many mountain trips my husband took me were much more gratifying than the ones I had in the U.S. 

Itfs also more merriment to go on a snow trip with somebody who knows snow well. My husband is very advertent to instruct me on the snow activities the Europeans unremarkably do.  :Blush:

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## Dutch Baka

:Karaoke:  And here is our lovely FlashJeff with his reply on : How much do you feel the passing of the seasons 


Applause

 :Bravo:   :Bravo:   :Bravo:   :Bravo:   :Bravo:   :Bravo:   :Bravo:   :Spray:   :Cracker:

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## Flashjeff

> Never try to disabuse a liberal of his source of rage.


Nothing wrong with being a liberal. I for one could never understand why so many people today, namely conservatives equate being a liberal as bad thing. Just for fun, here are some facts about the good done by liberals which I found on a website called Turn Left:

*Interstate Highway System*

era: 1950's-present
Proposed by Roosevelt and erected by Eisenhower (a Republican), the Interstate system was a big government project. As much as anything else in the post WWII era, the Interstate is responsible for tremendous economic growth, prosperity, and has spawned an entire culture.

*GI Bill*

era: 1950's
This act of Congress enabled millions upon millions of Americans to get college educations, something that most Americans had never had the opportunity to do previously. An entire generation of leaders, scientists, and business people owe their education to the GI Bill.

*Labor Laws*

era: 1930's-present
An end to child labor, 40 hour work weeks, the right of employees to collectively bargain, overtime pay, workplace safety, all of the things we take for granted today are thanks to liberal laws passed in the first half of this century. It was the conservatives who fought tooth and nail against the end of sweatshops and exploitation.

*Marshall Plan*

era: late 1940's-1950's
Foreign aid is a popular scapegoat these days. Those who would cut it should look back at the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt Europe, and is the major reason that Communism never made it past East Berlin.

*Environmental Laws*

era: 1970's-present
The environment has gotten much better in the last 30 years thanks to liberals. Bald Eagles fly once again thanks to endangered species laws, most rivers and lakes are clean again due to anti-pollution laws, and frequent smog days are a thing of the past in most big American cities.

*Food safety laws*

era: 1910's-present
Ever read Sinclair's "The Jungle?" That's what things were really like before food purity laws were on the books. Today cases of food poisoning are rare, and consumers know that whatever they buy is safe to eat.

*Workplace safety laws*

era: 1930's-present
Long hours in unsafe conditions are much rarer today than in the past. Tragedies such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and child labor have been eliminated by liberal and progressive legislation.

*Social Security*

era: 1930's-1970's
This program has provided three generations of Americans retirement benefits, and nearly eliminated poverty among the elderly. The program is weakening now, but for 50 years it did its job to a T.

*Economic Growth*

era: 1950's-1960's
Liberalism and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand. Unlike the pseudo-boom of the 1980's, the 1950's and 1960's were a period of sustained and real growth for all sectors of the economy and all social classes. Taxes were fair, government worked, and America prospered under both Democratic and Republican administrations

*Space Program*

era: 1950's-present
It was Kennedy who challenged us to make it to the moon, and it is under his and Johnson's administrations that the space program took off, with numerous benefits to American industry and peoples' standard of living, not to mention national pride. If you are reading this on a computer, thank the space program and the liberals who got it going.

*Peace corps*

era: 1960's-present
Kennedy inspired thousands of Americans to ask what they could do for their country, and the Peace Corps is his most visible and effective legacy

*Civil rights movement*

era: 1950's-present
Liberal ideals drove the biggest change in American society since the Civil War, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. All Americans who believe in freedom and opportunity cannot help but be inspired by the valiant struggles of MLK and others. Also recall if you will that the major opponents of civil rights were conservatives.

*The fight against Totalitarianism*

era: always
World War II was fought by all Americans; liberals and conservatives fought together the evil of Nazism. The ideal we fought for was freedom and the dignity of the individual against totalitarianism. Under the leadership of Roosevelt and Truman, we won. But the battle is never over, so we must remain vigilant.

*The Internet*

era: 1960's-present
Not a liberal program per se, but rather a government one, which many equate as the same thing. The internet is a good example of what a government program can do when allowed to work.

*The Tennessee Valley project*

era: 1930's
The Depression-era government program bought electricity to thousands of impoverished families in Appalachia, prevented floods, and created thousands of new jobs.

*Women's right to vote*

era: 1920's-present
Before 1920, half of America's population could not exercise the essential duty of citizenship.

*Universal Public Education*

era: 1890's-present
The reason America is so strong economically is because we have a well-educated citizenry. Public schooling is the true melting pot of America, where every student, regardless of economic background can be taught the basics of citizenship. It is no coincidence that in the last 20 years, as conservatives have greatly weakened the public school system, that American students have scored lower on tests and our civic society has started to unravel.

*National Weather Service*

era: 1930's-present
This is one of those things you never think about, but you are glad its there. Far from just forecasting the weather, the NWS also provides vital data to pilots and sailors, and the NWS satellites and observation posts provide the raw data that all other weather forecasting services (private ones too!) depend on.

*Scientific Research*

era: 1940's-present
Much of the great discoveries in science have come about through grants from the government. This is not to say that scientific genius depends on Washington, but the fact remains that pure science is expensive, and private industry will often not fund experiments which don't have a direct commercial potential. From Salk's polio vaccine to todays Human Genome Project and Hubble Space Telescope, the government is an important partner in scientific discovery.

*Product Labeling/Truth in Advertising Laws*

era: 1910's-present
"We take it for granted that if a claim is made publicly for a product, it's reasonable to assume it's true. Plus, every time we check the ingredients on a can or package of food, we should mentally call down blessings on the liberals who passed the necessary legislation over the anguished howls of the conservatives, who were convinced such info would be prohibitively expensive, and too big a burden on business."

*Public Health*

era: 1910's-present
Government funded water and sewage systems are an important part of modernity. In addition, organizations such as the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control play an important part in maintaining the national health and preventing epidemics through research, vaccination programs, etc.

*Morrill Land Grant Act*

era: late 1800's
This act is the reason why nearly every state in the Union has a large public university. These centers of learning have educated untold millions of Americans. If you went to a school with a state name in it, then you were helped by liberalism.

*Rural Electrification*

era: 1930's-1960's
This allowed remote, rural areas of the country the basic convinience of electricity. I am sure that those of us using computers on the internet, sitting in our air conditioned homes, under our electric lights consider electricity a basic necessity - one that the pure market would never have found profitable to provide to isolated farming communities.

*Public Universities*

era: 1890's-present day
Put a college education within the reach of nearly every American. In addition to education, many of these institutions have played key roles in all kinds of scientific research and been a strong influence on our entire society.

*Bank Deposit Insurance*

era: 1930's-present day
About 1934, as part of extensive New Deal banking legislation, Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to provide federal insurance for bank deposits.E^ This was instrumental in restoring confidence in our nation's banks, and remains so to this day.

*Earned Income Tax Credit*

era: 1970's-present day
Reduces the tax burden for working families who make under $28,500.00 You have to earn income to get it. It is not a handout. It's a great incentive for families to stay off welfare. But the atmosphere has changed in Washington, and Republicans had to find a way to pay for their capital-gains tax cut, and EITC was their ticket to success. So, the Republicans voted to cut this program by $29 billion over a certain time frame. Well guess what? They just raised the taxes on lower income working families.

*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention*

era: 1940's-present day
The world's foremost authority and defense against infectious disease and epidemic is a department of the United States government.

*Family and Medical Leave Act*

era: 1993-present day
This is a program which mandates that you have the right to job leave to take care of sick family members, or to have a child. Many conservatives were opposed to this valuable piece of legislation. Perhaps they were opposed to family values?

*Consumer Product Safety Commission*

era: 1972-present day
These guys regulate consumer products for safety. Everything from sharp (and edible) baby toys to flammable pjamas have been taken off the market due to the work of this commission.

*Public Broadcasting*

era: 1930's-present day
Millions of our children have learned from shows like Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, and Mister Rogers (and so many more). Millions of adults continue to learn from shows like Nova. Also, the best broadcast journalism is by far National Public Radio. PBS and NPR have served to enrich our national culture.

*Americans With Disabilities Act*

era: 1990-present day
Civil rights for disabled citizens. It is fair, just, and it is the law of the land. Credit where credit is due, former Senator Bob Dole helped push this through, a rare nod in favor of liberalism from Mr. Dole.

Not bad, all things considered. Now, I don't want to get into any sort of political debate because that's always a dead end road given how stubborn people can be on the subject, but it seems to me that a lot of good things have been credited to libearlism. Nothing to complain about really.

 :Smiling:

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## Minty

We loose one hour of sleep when we change time from winter to summer and we gain one hour of sleep when we change time from summer to winter.  :Sleep:  

Most Europeans go on vacations in the summer, I suppose it is like an activity people prefer to do in the summer season. :128:  

In the winter people here go up in the mountains to do winter sports. :17:  Also Xmas celebrations, the French are very ornamental of their cities and villages. 

In spring, there are lots of flower decorations in this province, and people celebrate it with Easter. :Rose:   :Raining:   :51: Again many ablaze,aesthetic decorations everywhere.

In autumn, we drive up to the black forest to see the view of many trees together in the two sides of the roads that have "their clothes" changed.

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